Get Your Freak On rewrite
by Lenipez sideshow
Summary: Time continums are tricky things,some people get the bad end of the deals.its a long story, and things arn't quite as simple as they apear.Rewrite: s'gona be a fun ride.
1. Title Page

---Get your freak on---Title page

Hello and welcome to the revision and often times re-write of GYFO. I started this fic back in freshman year and I vowed to finish it…now four years and a diploma later I'm embarking to do so. I'm leaving the old version up so feel free to browse if I don't update fast enough for you. You will notice, as this show gets on the road that the early chapters have been tweaked a bit form the original and the plot line is going to differ. Also a lot of the chapters will be almost exactly the same. There is ooc here, but I'm proud to say I don't think I've done anything to be flogged for.

So I hope you enjoy. Read if you want review if you do!

Check here for updates and such.

Leni


	2. Prologue of sorts

---Get Your Freak On--- A prologue of sorts or two brief appearances of a not so inviting sort of characters.

Jak was exhausted, completely and utterly. He dragged himself into the hip hop hog saloon like a walking corpse. His crash landing in a barstool was nearly a disaster; he slumped forward and leaned his forehead on the cool bar top. He just wished that the pain would just go away, even for just a little. He wondered how long how long he'd had the constant headache of death. Had to be for more than a year, he wondered why it hadn't killed him yet.

Dax in his usually scruffy orange ways was flirting with Tess, without a second thought of his comrade's obvious migraine. Sig was talking with a dark haired some one and thankfully, Krew was nowhere to be found.

Tess finally focused her attention on Jak, "So what can I get you?" She watched as he just lifted his head up and stared at her.

"Something….Alcohol…Caffeine?" He groaned and put his head back down. Tess sighed and threw her small white bar cloth over her shoulder as she turned to whip something up for him.

Sig's heavy foot steps as he crossed to the bar heralded his voice, "You sure that's a good idea Chili pepper? You look like hell, what's the under ground got you doing?"

"Every thing!" Daxter shouted a little to close to Jak's head before the blond could answer.

Jak winced and tried to smack Dax upside the head. He missed the little otsel's head bobbing out of the way in perfect timing as he continued to rant.

"Those bastards still have us running the crapy missions! They're still trying to get us killed! How many suicide missions have we done Jak! HOW MANY!" he yelled more than a little hysterical.

"So help me Daxter….Shut Up!" his icy eyes spelled orange lightening death.

Tess slid him a drink at this moment, He nodded gratefully and ignored what ever Daxter may or may not have said in return.

"Tess, you're my hero." Jak downed the glass.

"Wow? You here that baby I've been promoted to hero!" she giggled and Daxter started to tell one of his oh so especially heroic stories. Jak tried hard to ignore her remarks about how wonderful and brave he was.

A few minutes passed and Sig vanished taking a few more drinks with him to continue negotiating some kind of deal with the dark haired customer in the corner booth. After Jak downed the drink he felt he could sufficiently function in the living world again. He mad a note not to try to pull off a more than thirty-six hour day filled with explosions and running.

He stood, a bit less corpse like, and turned his attention to Sig's deal he was finishing up. The last few words of his and his 'customers' conversation was lost across the distance. Jak cocked a brow as a large sum of money was exchanged. The dark haired man looked out of place to begin with. He didn't really adhere to the haven fashion world, he was far to plain. He wore a long tattered brown coat and pair of shiny metal toed boots peeping out under the hem of the coat near his ankles. He was tall and rather gaunt around the cheeks, and the cigarette in his lips looked very at home there. He had the starting of what resembled a crimson guard tattoo; it was on one rectangle jutting up onto his cheek from his jaw line. He had sand in his dark hair; which was evident as he gave his head an annoyed shake with one gloved hand and met Jak's ice gaze with his own blue black one.

"Who's your friend?" Jak asked not adverting his eyes.

"The names Clue," the man said cutting sig off as he put out his cigarette on the metal snap of his gloves. Tess paid him attention for the first time and apparently liked what she saw.

"You're Jak." He said more than he asked. Tess was now giving him the fourth over. Dax noticed an abrupt drop in quality of his belly rub and searched for the source of this decrease ready to take action.

Dax jumped up and approached Clue shaking his finger "HEY BUDY! You sho…….You…you hey STOP LAUGHING!! I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

The stranger was indeed laughing, more of an amused snort, "I love the things you keep around, sig. you always had good choice."

Sig chuckled while Daxter glared.

"Hey bub, I am not a THING!"

"Really now?" Clue bobbed up and down as he rocked from heel to toe. Sig shook his head and shot Clue a glance that said lay off and his only response was a nod.

"Dax…just…lay off…alright…" Jak said playing the rare part of peace keeper as he grabbed the Otsel and roughly threw him on his shoulder.

"Dirty no good lurker headed-I could take him-well you could anyway-"

Before any one could comment on this statement one way or the other a communicator chirped, Jak reached for his and looked up as he realized it wasn't his.

Jak was about to leave while the Clue fellow was busy, when a low feminine voice screeched over the static of the transmission, "CLLLLUUUEEEE! I HATE YOU! HATE! HATE! HATE!" a loud smashing noise punctuated every word. Clue's left eye twitched, "Where the hell are you! You said you'd be back here hours ago!"

Sig and Jak gave identical confused looks.

"Hey! Hey!" Clue yelled back, "Power cells are not the easiest things to find,"

"But!"

"Quiet, do you want them or not?" he returned to his more calm demeanor.

"You found one?" she chirped happily.

"Of course but…..," he trailed of

"Good!" she squeaked,

"Aight, now I'm off to..." He trailed off in the same apathetic tone.

"Where?" she cut him off.

He groaned, then smirked, "to see the wizard." He said almost playfully.

Jak and Sig looked at him funny, Tess and Dax were occupied….

Suddenly the woman on the other end burst into song, "because, because, because, beeeecuuuaaaase! Of the wonderful thing's he does." The communicator chirped and he shoved it into his inner pocket.

He turned back to Sig and Jak who were both giving him very odd looks.

He tilted his head at an odd angle, "what?" He asked a little dauntingly.

"Nothing," Sig said shaking his head, "see you around,"

"Aight," he shrugged and stalked out.

"Bi polar Much!' Dax jumped up and yelled as soon as the doors had shut.

Jak's drink; whatever magic Tess had whipped up for him, had kicked in a while ago, and his perpetual migraine had calmed down enough so that it was no longer painful for Daxter to open his mouth. He figured it was about time to go, But he still had one question.

" Who was that Sig?"

"Clue? Me an big blue go way back," Sig crossed his arms and grinned, Jak cocked an eyebrow as if to say 'and?'. "He's a wastlander, and don't ask me how he got in the city because I haven't the slightest. Hey, Tess get me a shot of that stuff I like," he finished, changing the subject.

"Well Dax let's go," Dax jumped on his shoulder and they headed for the door.

"See ya chill pepper."

"Bye Daxter!" Tess yelled as she clinked Sig's drink on the counter.

Jak stepped out into the early afternoon sunlight. He spotted a parked zoomer and made his way toward it.

"So if Torn trys to send us on another suicide mission we kill him, right?" Dax asked as Jak turned the key and brought the engine to life.

"Right," Jak's answered with an evil grin as he speed off thru the traffic thinking of the many different ways he could accomplish this. Then he remembered he was running on mystery drink.

'Killing torn bad, sleeping good,' he thought to himself as he took a particularly hard right and came into view of the Under ground HQ.

Jak watched the fire works explode into colorful sparkles in the night sky. Months had passed since his trial period of suicide missions for torn. He turned back to Samos and Sig, "I think I'm all done with adventures."

Samos nodded as sagely as one could with a log and a bird on his head, Sig looked like he was about to say something but the distinct click of a Zippo was heard to their left.

"Is that so?" some one mumbled in the dark. Jak peered out past the streetlight but the bright red glow of a cigarette was all he could see.

"That you big blue?" Sig asked the bobbing red light.

"Yeah it's me." He said as he materialized out of the shadows.

"What the hell brought you here?" Sig greeted him as he entered the light of the street lamp.

He stood next to Jak and looked at him. Jak pretended not to have any interest in him. It took him a moment to place who the guy was. He could sense something weird about the guy but he couldn't place it, somehow it was very familiar.

Clue looked around cautiously before answering. Sig's expression turned serious in anticipation.

"I'm hiding,"

Sig burst into a fit of laughter as if this was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

Samos stamped his staff, "what's the meaning of this? Who is after you?"

"Jules dragged your scaly ass out of the desert didn't she?" Sig chuckled again.

Clue groaned and looked up at the fireworks.

"I'd take that as a yes," Jak smirked and stared up at the fireworks as well.

"Hey? Did you ever find those power cells for her?" Sig asked almost a little to casually. Jak knew he wanted something.

Clue looked at him and cocked an eyebrow "yeah…"

"Hand it over, you said I could use her. We made a deal," Sig tried to sound persuasive.

Clue didn't answer but reached into his trench to where there must have been a gun holster and pulled out a long barreled blaster.

"You're excited about that pea shooter?" Jak asked skeptically as Cue handed it over.

"You should see what this little puppy can do, Chili pepper."

"You might wanna…" clue made a distinct shaking motion with his hand, scattering glowing ashes from his cigarette.

Sig took the implied advice and shook the gun slightly, it rattled then a small trickle of sand escaped the barrel.

"Yeah, ya gota shake it…S'got sand." Clue finished quietly.

Sig and Jak just stared. Who in their right mind let sand get in their gun?

" Clue you know that's not good for the gun…" Sig said slowly.

"Lots of things aren't good for lots of other things." He told him coldly.

Sig seemed to ignore him and took aim with the small gun out over the port.

Jak looked around and noticed that Samos was had wondered off, Probably at the first sign that the conversation was moving towards guns.

His attention snapped back to Sig and the gun. It was making a strange whirling charging noise. He released the trigger and there was a loud pop click sound.

Nothing happened.

"Told ya." Clue reached his gloved hand out for the gun back. Sig released it and looked disappointed.

"Next time make sure the gun you barrow has ammo." Jak told him sarcastically. Sig gave him a dirty look and opened his mouth to snap something back but stopped as he saw clue taking aim.

The gun emitted the same whirling charging noise again as clue squeezed the trigger. As it charged the deep grooves in the side of the long barrel began to glow a dark blue and it intensified as the charging noise grew louder.

The shot made only the distinct click from the gun and a loud electric sizzle when the blue energy blast made contact with the water. It sizzled for a few moments and sparks danced across the water before dying with a hiss.

"Told you Chili pepper."

Jak wasn't listening, he had one thought, Blue eco. that was what he had felt before, but it didn't make any sense. The gun had no ammo before.

"Can I see that," Jak asked a bit hesitantly still confused.

"Shit!" Clue swore loudly ignoring Jak's request, and dashed back into the shadows near some crates. Jak blinked, that was not a reaction he had expected.

Jak didn't have to wonder long though. A petit figure ran towards them. She stopped in the light, hands on her knees panting. Her short Strawberry blonde hair hung down in a tangled mess around her face.

"Have you seen Clue?" she panted, "I saw the explosion, and well.."

Sig pointed towards the crates.

"Clue?" she asked the darkness while She adjusted her baggy yellow hat, Jak wondered how she managed to cram her ears in there. Women would do strange things for fashion.

"Clue! I can hear you breathing! Get your ass out here now."

Silence.

She groaned and turned back to the other two. And there was clue calmly standing between the two. Jak jumped and stared at him, "what the hell!" he shouted at him in surprise.

"You suck at hiding, ya know. Usually when one is hiding they do not explode things." She put her hands on her hips and stared him down, completely ignoring the fact that he had just materialized there. Clue blew smoke out of nose in response somehow likening himself to an annoyed bull.

"Well I found it," she said irritably, "I hope you're happy,"

"You found it!" he asked amazed, dropping his apathetic air.

"Well not so much find as know where is." She smiled as she saw his eyes dance in excitement, the only hint that remained of this emotion, as his face became a mask again.

"You see I'm not annoying all the time. Now we have to go," she grabbed the sleeve of his duster and started to drag him away, she turned suddenly and smacked Clue upside the head, "Are you smoking! Those things are going to kill you!" it was an obvious question considering a cigarette flew from his mouth with the impact.

He looked down angrily at the broken cigarette that burned slowly on the ground. "I hate you," he said slowly in a chilling way.

She rolled her eyes and continued to drag him away, "lets go," she looked back over her shoulder innocently as she left the ring of light, "Bye Jak!" she yelled loudly.

Jak blinked, "I didn't...why did she…" he muttered confused by the mounting strange events.

"Come on chili pepper, you ready to get smashed? Cause I know after that I am."

Jak, nodded, usually he would have declined in fear of hangovers, but at this moment, it seemed very appealing.


	3. Chapter One

---Get your freak on--- chapter 1

Jak was not a happy camper. This was the eighth time this week he had gone out to the pumping station to clear out metal heads.

"Its been almost a year Dax, and these bastards still haven't given up," Jak grumbled irritably as he slammed another ammo cartridge into his gun.

Dax didn't answer as they rounded the corner, his eyes were too bussy bulging out and pointing mutely at the three lounging feline like metal heads now visable. Jak jumped back around the corner before he was spotted, and for once Daxter actually kept his mouth shut and didn't ruin the element of surprise.

As quickly as he had darted back he darted forward guns blazing. Two shots connected with one of the sun bathing metal heads before it knew what hit it. The other two were up on their paws snarling and charging before Jak could get them in his cross hairs. The first one on the left crossed half the distance to him, he fired. The thing screeched, howled, tumbled to the ground, and rolled forward onto its selfbrought down by its own momentum.

The last one was almost on top of him as he placed his sights on its head. The feline creature darted left, his aim following. It faked right and to Jak's dismay his yellow blast missed its target. He lowered the gun from his shoulder switching to hold it like a bat in the blink of an eye.

The beast leapt.

Jak brought the but of gun down with shattering force on the things head. There was a loud teeth grinding crack and the neon day glow yellow skull gem shattered/ Daxter flinched and started to say something but winced again a little as Jak kicked the limp body as it twitched. They always twitched when he smashed the gems.

Jak didn't even bother to take trophies; he just headed for the exit. He remembered a time when more than five metal heads signaled he was in over his head, but not any more. He was almost too good at it now, It made his insides crawl to think about it too much. Then quietly, as antagonizing over his current state usually did, it lead him straight back to Sandover. For once, he allowed himself to reminisce and managed a rare form of smirk.

"So Jak, the pink ones or just clear one's with those little pink umbrella's" Daxter asked loudly knocking Jak out of his thoughts.

"What?" he asked very confused about what the hell the otsel was talking about.

"Aaiii! Haven't you been listening! For Friday, you know the big fiesta," Dax started do the chicken dance on Jaks shoulder to emphasis. Jak just stared at him blankly. "Oh yeah that's right, you've forgot what those are; you know girls, booze, girls, dancing, fun? Do you remember those things buddy?"

Jak ignored him as the large shield wall doors cranked open for them. They emerged into the bustling chaos that was the streets of haven. He head for the bright blue zoomer that greeted him.

How he loved that thing, it had been his first order of business after Ashlin had taken power. Well maybe the second order of business, the first had been to get over the largest hang over he had ever encountered. He pulled out his keys and jingled them happily; maybe he'd go to the racetrack instead of the stupid party.

Suddenly a small girl popped in front of him blocking him from his zoomer.

The small pink haired girl stared up at him with obstinate green eyes. A few kids appeared behind her. They made a motley crew, a couple were slumers by appearance but the others he couldn't tell.

"Told you, she was right" one of them whispered. Another made the sign against evil.

"What are ya chicken," a red head punched him.

"My mom says he's evil too," a small girl whispered.

"Mine said he worked for Krew. Who dat?" a very young boy asked.

"My Pa says…" one boy started.

"No one cares what your pa says Kipper, your pa's a drunk" the pink one said furiously still staring Jak in the eye. Jak hadn't realized he'd been glaring at them till then.

"What do you want," he asked very annoyed and close to anger.

"We wanna know if it's true, cause you know how parents is, they don't tell us half of nothing." She said determinedly, some how she reminded him of a very young very pink haired Torn.

"Is he evil?" one asked impatiently.

"Ssshhh that's what she's askin stupid." Another flurry of hushes waved through them.

"I know you love the zoomer Jak, but let it go, those things have it. With their little hands and those eyes. Have you looked at those eyes there to big for their heads Jak!" Dax whispered desperately, "and the little hands that pet and pull the fur, don't let them take you alive, its worse than death," he said mellow dramatically.

Jak wasn't listening; he couldn't believe he was standing there, afraid of a pink haired little girl. He knew what she was going to ask, but he couldn't answer it. He just couldn't.

So he turned around, sure, he'd never live it down, but he'd walk all the way to the naughty otsel. He heard the girl take a deep breath.

"Are…are you evil?" she asked quickly. The group of children held their breaths collectively ready for flight.

Jak stopped dead, fists clenched.

"AAARG!" a flying orange projectile launched it's self at the children. Screams of terror and scrambling feet were heard as the small gang scattered.

Jak turned around to see Daxter alone in front of the zoomer flexing his non existence muscles, "I strika the fear into da heart," he said striking another pose.

" Into a group of innocent children,"

"I know your hurt buddy, but not every one has these talents," Dax babbled, Jak made his way to the zoomer and started it up, shaking his head for more than one reason.

" It was the hands wasn't, its always the hands that get to best of us, I'd like to round them all up and offer them to Torn for breakfast," Dax finished jumping onto his shoulder.

"No torn please don't eat me I taste like slum water," Jak said in mock horror, trying not to laugh. Laughter was always the easiest way to cover up discomfort, Daxter seemed to know this best.

Jak pushed the little girl and her question out of his mind and took the controls of his vehicle. Unfortunately, bright green eyes blinked at him through his windshield.

"What the hell!" Jak shouted in surprise, he wretched the steering column hard to the right, jostling the zoomer. The girl didn't budge.

"So are you?" she asked bravely from her perch on the hood of the zoomer

"Hey little girl don't you have somewhere to be?" Dax asked agitatedly, "Why don't you bug off."

She stared at the magical talking orange rat that had attacked her earlier, "why don't you shut up, fur bag."

"Get off my zoomer," Jak growled.

"Why don't you answer my question!" she shouted back.

Jak hit the accelerator. Zoomer lurched forward a few feet and stopped suddenly throwing the small interrogator off his hood. The girl slid of the hood harmlessly and Jak punched the zoomer up into the next hover zone.

"If I knew the answer where the hell do you think I'd be!" he shouted infuriated at her. He griped the zoomer controls tightly; he felt the eco crackle over his fists.

With a blast of orange thrusters, the sleek blue zoomer was gone.

She was left blinking her big green eyes, confused. Grown ups never made any sense, and it was such an easy question too.

"You okay Kaya?"

"Did he try to kill you?"

"Did he murder you?"

"Did he answer?"

"Did he tie you up?"

"Of course he didn't tie her up, kipper you clout!" an older blonde kid smack him upside the head.

"I'm okay," she told the group.

"Did he answer?" the read head asked

"No…" she said hesitantly.

"Well that must mean he is then," the older blonde said with certainty.

"I duno…" Kaya said stubbornly blinking her big emerald eyes.

"Whatever," the red head piped in, "the bakery just put its pie's out to cool, can you smell it," he took a big breath of polluted air. The kids perked up, started gibbering about pie and the best ways to steal it, and disappeared down the ally. Kaya was last follow.


	4. Chapter two

---Get You Freak On--- Chapter 2

Dax had insisted on being dropped off at the Naughty Otsel because of the errands he had to run for the party. Jak knew he really just didn't want to sit through the boring report. Jak fishtailed into palace's plaza and brought the zoomer in for a landing. He returned a few dirty looks to the blue armored guards as he climbed the stairs. As the elevator groaned to life, Jak thought about the street urchins earlier. Then again, he really didn't want to think about them, he just wanted to report to Ashlin and go home.

The doors rolled open and he entered the control room, Ashlin was yelling thru the COM at some one and Samos looked worried. He didn't catch every thing she was saying, but it had to do with the south side of the city.

Torn's voice crackled over the COM, "We got metal head and KG bots coming on both sides, its like they're heading for the palace."

Jak made face of half horror and half bafflement. Things had been fine outside a moment ago. He looked around frantically for some answer but chaos had already set in.

As if on queue the palace shook, a horrible metallic grinding noise came from the walls.

"Ashlin! Ashlin!" torn shouted through the COM over the rumbling.

"Run!" Jak yelled as part of the wall was ripped off its foundation. Kiera looked at him, noticing him for the first time as he ran toward the newly formed hole. Jak stopped suddenly, he looked over his toes at the city far below and the streets of swarming metal heads and freedom fighters.

"It's Torn!" Keira yelled relieved as another rumble shook the palace. Torn was coming in fast in a blue freedom fighter hellcat.

"When I say jump, jump!" Jak yelled as the building gave another violent convulsion.

He took a deep breath and waited, one-precoursor orb, two precoursor orbs….wait for it, "Jump!" he pushed off his toes as hard as he could and launched himself at the cruiser.

Jak heard Ashlin and Keira thump onto the cruiser after him; a third thump smacked onto the cruiser, Torn swore loudly and pulled Samos into the cruiser the rest of the way by the log.

Parts of the palace came tumbling pass and bounced off the cruiser. A fiery ball of flame smashed into the wall of the palace. Ashlin watched as the whole building shuddered and swayed.

"Get us the hell out of here Torn!" she yelled, rage edging her voice.

Torn gunned the accelerator and shot away from the palace like a bat out of hell.

The palace erupted into a fiery ball of doom and shrapnel, crashing onto the street below with an ominous boom. Where once freedom fighters had held the line against a wave of metal heads now stood a tangle of flaming debris.

Torn brought the cruiser back into a fish tail and faced the destruction. The debris fell all the way back to the stadium, covering every thing with twisted metal and concrete. It had all been so sudden, so unexpected. Jak blinked, he hadn't even known they were being attacked.

"Holly.." Jak stared down at the mass destruction.

"Shit…." Keira finished for him as she looked out toward the racing stadium.

Ashlin was frothing at the mouth in anger, "what the hell is happening Torn!" she yelled as she tried in vain to calm herself with deep breath.

"Torn!" Jak yelled before he could answer, he pointed at a wave of KG robots ascending from the street on the other side of wreckage.

"Hang on to your asses" torn yelled as the zoomer took off like a rocket.

Keira was thrown back into her seat with the force. She grit her teeth and clenched her fists as enemy fire sizzled thru the air as Torn took a hard left turn. Her stomach flew into her chest as they dropped hover zones. She watched as a walls sped towards them. She screamed and squeezed her eyes shut.

Torn took the corner at top speed, the cruiser's underbelly screeched against the metal of the building as the force of the turn pushed them sideways up the wall. Jak hung on and twisted himself around to see the Kg bots behind them.

He braced himself against the drivers seat as torn steered them at break neck speed under the over pass and around the supports.

Keira opened her eyes in time to see the large support beams ducking in and out of view as torn dodged thru them; she squeezed her eyes shut again. She was glad he was such a good driver. She opened her eyes again to see torn just miss a beam then crash thru some debris.

'Or maybe he's just crazy!!' she thought screaming again as they went up a hover zone.

It seemed like a thousand red beams of searing KG fire flew thru the air. Jak pulled out his gun; one of those bastards had nearly taken off his head.

Jak opened fire, adding yet another reason for Keira to scream. He picked off a few and they exploded. Torn took another hard turn, they were almost to the new part of the city now. Jak was almost knocked out of his precarious position and he wedged himself farther back between the passenger and driver seat.

He contorted his gun, revealed the Vulcan mod and spun it into place; he opened fire on the mass of red robots with an evil smile.

Keira's world became a place of gunfire, explosion and the constant vibrating of the zoomer engine. This was not a place she really wanted to be. She felt her heart dip into her stomach as Torn dodged around some unknown obstacle. She heard him screaming into his COM for the force field to be lowered.

Jak kept firing till the last second. He saw the last corner zip away from him, the kg bots swept around the same corner in perfect synchronization, the shimmering blue field sprung up behind them as they passed intothe sector. The kg's exploded as they suddenly slammed into the wall of energy.

Torn came to a slow stop in the middle of the new sector. Freedom fighters ran towards them, torn barked orders and Ashlin demanded Intel as they abandoned the cruiser.

"You okay," some one touched Keira's shoulder, it was Jak.

"Yeah," she said a little too quickly hoping her face didn't betray the relief and fear of the previous exodus.

"Good," he said quickly and nodded as he turned and caught up with torn. Samos taped his staff impatiently as he waited for his daughter's daze to pass.

---page break ---

Jak waited impatiently out side of the conference room. He was furious, why the hell had Ashlin kicked him out of the meeting. As soon as the councilmen had shown up, she had just given him this look. He groaned and ran his hand thru his hair. At least Daxter was fine. Apparently, the invasion had left the port untouched.

The last thing he'd heard was that evacuation teams had been sent out to round up 'important people' as Ashlin had said it. At least Dax would be there soon.

'Probably start off bitching about how he won't be able to have that stupid party,' he thought with a smile.

Another yelling match erupted behind the doors. Jak winced as he distinctly heard the words eco freak. He suddenly got a knot in his stomach, he did not like where the conversation was going. A deadly hush overcame the other room, it lasted far longer than made Jak comfortable. At least when they were yelling he could tell what was going on.

Just as he gave up eavesdropping and moved to the other side of the hall, the double doors suddenly slide open. The first of the councilmen stepped out, a surprised and almost horrified look over came his face when he spotted Jak leaning against the wall. Jak watched him walk away quickly, keeping to the opposite side. A few other officials passed by with snobby superior looks. The last one appeared, followed by Ashlin and two guards.

"Freak," the tall councilman sneered at him as he passed. Jak recognized him as a man named Veeger. The councilman would never know how close to death he had come.

Ashlin watched anger wash over Jak's face, she cursed Veeger a thousand times over. Did he really have to make this that more difficult?

Jak watched Ashlin become more distraught, she sighed and stuck out a hand at one of the blue armored guards. The guard promptly handed her a large pair of restraints.

A wave of fear flooded Jak's mind, he knew what had happened. The councilmen had brought him up again, but what ever they had proposed Ashlin had not been able to stop them.

Ashlin mistook the fear for anger and took a quick step forward. She was surprised as he took one back.

"Jak," her voice cracked half way through the word, "just…I'm going to fix this."

Jak could only watch as she clamped the large restraints around his wrists. The fear flew out of him as fast as it had come, and was replaced by a low simmering rage. He glared at her, if any one else had been standing in front of him after putting a pair of handcuffs on him, he'd be shredding them to pieces.

'It's not her fault,' he reminded himself as a guard jostled him to the side. The thought had no affect on his temper what so ever.

Ashlin watched the guards hurry Jak away down the hall; he tried to shrug one of the armored hands off of his arm.

Ashlin leaned against the wall and put her head in both her hands, an exasperated sigh escaped her lips, "My world is going to hell in a hand basket…"

"What do we need a hand basket for?" Ashlin looked up to find Keira standing there wearing her little suspenders and as chipper as always.

A loud yell attracted the stares of both women.

There was Jak, slammed up against a wall; an evil grin plastered his face. The guard pulled him back and slammed him again. Jak swore loudly as hit the wall again. The other guard collected himself off the floor and prodded him on.

Ashlin shook her head, "Mar, help me," she muttered as the rolling doors hissed open. Keira looked back at the corner that Jak had vanished around; the feeling of her heart dipping into her stomach was worse than the zoomer ride. She turned and darted after Ashlin.

The doors hissed shut behind both of them with an ominous clank.


End file.
